Recipes

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 slices white bread (I used wheat bread); roughly torn
1 can (14 ouce) tomatoes pureed with their juices
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar (I used some other vinegar that was available)
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
Handful basil leaves, to garnish

1. Pour 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil into an ice-cube tray and freeze

2. Put the onion, garlic, bell pepper, ripe tomatoes, and bread into a food processor and blend until finely chopped but not too smooth- you need to keep some of the crunchy texture.

3. Transfer to a large bowl with the pureed tomatoes. Add 5 tablespoons of the remaining oil, the vinegar, hot pepper sauce, stock, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste; remember, food to be served chilled needs to be strongly seasoned. Mix thoroughly, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. You can prepare ahead up to this point.

4. Just before serving, pour the soup into serving bowls. Drop a couple of frozen olive-oil cubes into each, and drizzle with a little more oil. Tear some basil leaves over each bowl and serve